Proper Appreciation
by Raberba girl
Summary: Hookfang's perspective on Hiccup's final exam.


Proper Appreciation

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' _How to Train Your Dragon_ fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Hookfang's perspective on Hiccup's final exam.

A/N: I'm posting this separately from my previous HTTYD fics, because those are all headcanon, but this one here fits fine with actual canon. I'll probably post any other fully canon-based HTTYD one-shots I write here, too.

I have no idea how I got the idea for this fic, I just randomly wanted to write about Hiccup from Hookfang's POV. ^^; Hookfang was fun to write in _Strength_.

o.o.o

I wake up to the smell of gathering humans, more and more of them. They get louder and louder, their smell of excitement and bloodlust growing and growing 'til it fills my nose and I'm thrashing around and around and around the trap cave.

_Let me out._ Let me out, little monsters, so I can give you what you want and CRUSH YOU.

They suddenly get quiet and I freeze, quivering in anticipation. The humans are all above, but are there some down here, too? Even just a few for me to roast and tear apart? I can't waaaaiiiit, LET ME OUT!

I can't stand it and I start rushing again, around and around and _around_, burning so much that I almost feel a little sick. If they don't let me kill something soon, I'll _di_-

The cave bursts open right under me, and the sudden sunlight blinds me for a second. Then I start rushing again, joyful for just one _second_ when I feel free.

But the outline of this place forms under my claws, and it might be a bigger trap but it's still a trap. I can't get out. Are there any humans in here with me? I hope so. I'll tear them apart first and then I'll send my fire out past the chains and kill all the others. _"Die, monsters!"_

There _is_ a human in here with me. Just one, blech; but he's in here, close and defenseless. I didn't notice him at first, and even now it's hard to believe he's here, because HE IS TINY. Practically still a hatchling, barely any meat, he's like a _squirrel_. ...He's almost cute, I kind of want to play with him a little before I kill him.

But he's the only one I can reach easily, so too bad; no time to play. I think I can fit his whole scrawny body into my mouth, just one bite. I wish they'd given me something more _fun_!

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay..."

I'm hesitating. Because he's a _weird_ little human. For one thing, he smells a little like Lone Nightwing, which is so strange I can't even think about it. There's no anger in his scent at _all_, it's throwing me off, and he doesn't smell nearly as scared as he should. I don't like that, it's killing my excitement and bloodlust. Run around like a terrified little rat so I can kill you!

"I'm not one of them."

...Now he is even smaller. Because he threw away his metal claw and his shell and he's throwing away his horned skull, too. Now he's just a scrap of bones and skin and fur, so helpless I barely have the heart to kill him, and _I am __confused_.

I've never been this close to a human before who wasn't trying to kill me or escape. It's kind of...interesting. He's so close, _right_ in front of my nose, and so still and quiet, and so _not scared_, I'm inhaling lungfuls of him trying to read him, and...I kind of like it. He's like all other humans in that he doesn't smell good to eat, but he's saying emotions that I've never smelled from a human before.

_"determination, wonder, happiness, apprehension, worry, affection."_ I didn't even know humans _could_ feel those things. He seems almost like a pers-

CLANG

Sound stabs through my mind, _Danger! Fight!_ Meat in front of my nose, _snap_, humans humans humans _die_!

o.o.o.o.o

Fighting.

Pain.

Sleep...

o.o.o.o.o

I don't feel good when I wake up in the trap cave.

...My body is not hurt. But something in me doesn't feel good. ...Did I do something bad?

I lie and think for a while. It is very quiet outside.

There was a human. A little tiny adolescent squirrel of a human who smelled like a person. I...did...something...bad...to him. I think. I can't...remember very well.

He's just a human. Good riddance. It doesn't matter.

Except it _does_. Why does it matter?!

The first human _ever_ who didn't try to kill me or run away, who _talked_ to me a little, who wasn't a monster...and I killed him. I chased him down and made him nothing and now he's gone forever. Is his blood still on my-? No, no smell of gore on my claws, no taste of human in my mouth; I'd probably just swung a paw or tail or wing at him and cracked his frail little unprotected head with one blow-

The cave opens. What?

_What_?

That can't be right, I always sense them coming first, their monster smell mixed with anger and hate-

I almost didn't notice him _again_. He's so _small_, and slow, and still not scared. He's already by my nose before I finally figure out he's in here with me.

"Hey there, big guy..."

He is alive. Squirrel Meat is alive. So sweetly still and quiet, telling me _"pain hope desperation affection grief"_ and more, a tumble of emotions that makes me want to make him happy. He needs me. He's asking more politely than I ever thought was _possible_, even for dragons, and I like that he needs me. I don't know what he needs me for, but that doesn't matter because obviously I can do anything.

_"I'm special. I'm the best dragon, and I will help you, little weakling Squirrel Meat, because I can do it better than anyone else and you will think I'm amazing."_ Weaklings have a proper appreciation for amazingness.

"That's it...thaaaaat's it, come on out..."

I follow him into the sunlight.


End file.
